Coffee Selection Guide: How to Choose the Right Coffee for You

The coffee world is a complex, global industry. Coffee is the most popular beverage in the world, with more than 400 billion cups consumed each year and more specifically more than 450 million cups of coffee are consumed in the United States every day. So it seems you don't have to travel far to get a cup in your hands. As a specialty coffee roaster, we take great pride in being able to provide you with specialty beans from around the world.

ROASTCoffee beans are actually a seed of a fruit and are composed of all the essential building blocks that are needed to create a new coffee tree. During the roasting process, we are manipulating these building blocks and creating new components through the application of heat, just like cooking food. Roasting coffee is an art and a science. Each coffee is treated differently when roasting based on the chemical composition and desired outcome of flavor profile. There are some expected flavors that can be achieved from roasting coffee to different “levels”, or degrees of roast, and below is a description of what can be expected from the different roast levels at Ferris. Light Roast: As a general rule, the vast majority of our coffees at Ferris would be considered “light roasts” when compared to all the available coffee in the market today. This is intentional. We source extremely high-quality green coffee, therefore we want it to taste as much of what makes that coffee unique in the cup. These unique flavors come from the soil composition, growing elevation, coffee varietal, processing method, drying method, and other factors from the origin of where it is grown. When brewed, these coffees tend to have higher levels of acidity and exhibit flavors of fruits, flowers, sweet candies, specific chocolates and nuts, and other highly pointed flavors that make these coffees unique. A “light roast” reveals these flavors rather than hiding them through more application of heat and time in the roasting process. Medium Roast: As we progress further in the roasting process, and more heat and time are added, the unique flavors from light roasted coffee tend to fade. On a chemical level, sugars in the seeds are caramelizing further and medium roasts are what we believe to be the point of peak sweetness in coffee. Acidity, fruity, and floral notes tend to be less present and the nostalgic chocolate and nutty flavors in coffee are most present at a medium roast. The body of the coffee, or weight and thickness perception on the tongue, is also increased compared to a lighter roasted coffee. A majority of coffee drinkers identify as preferring medium roasts above all else and we think it’s because the sweet, sugary notes in coffee are at their peak. If you prefer less acidity in your coffee but don’t care for the smokey, charred flavors of dark roasts, we recommend trying our medium roast offerings. Dark Roast: With even more heat and time applied to coffee, we progress into “dark roast” territory. At this point in the roast, the sugar that we’ve caramelized is beginning to char, and progressively turn into more and more carbon. Think about toasting a marshmallow golden brown vs. starting it on fire and turning the outside completely black. The black crust is carbon that has formed from the pyrolytic process of caramelizing sugars deeply. Coffees that have heavily caramelized sugars have a lot of carbon, therefore tend to have notes of smoke, char, very dark chocolate, and sometimes spice. Almost all of the acidity in the coffee is no longer perceivable and the body of the coffee is usually at peak fullness in a dark roast. Sometimes dark roasted coffee can develop an oily surface, which is from fats and lipids inside the coffee seed being forced to the surface. We believe that if oil appears of the surface of coffee, it actually is a sign of over-roasting, so we avoid roasting coffee so dark that oil forms. Our dark roasted coffee is sourced and roasted to achieve flavors like dark chocolate, heavily reduced caramel, and roasted nuts, while providing just a touch of the “char” character that dark roast drinkers look for.

SINGLE ORIGIN VS. BLENDSThere are a number of differences between the two kinds of coffee, each with their own characteristics. Similar to wine, specific regions, weather, soil, and other variables effect the final product. Like roast, it comes to personalpreference when choosing between the two. Single origins offer an opportunity to learn more about a specific region and strengthen your coffee drinking skills, while blends are an approachable tasting experience, still highlighting tasting notes.

Single Origin: The term single origin is just as it sounds - it means that the beans come from one place only, usually from a certain region, country, or specific farm. Given that they are sourced from one place only, single origin coffees tend to be available exclusively at certain times of year, contingent on the growing season of the geographical location from which they were derived. You can further break it down to single origin micro lot coffees, which derive from a single field on a farm. Facts like this are reflected in the price of single origin coffees. Coffee producing countries each have their own distinct flavor profiles. Central and the South Americas are expected to be clean and sweet while Africa is complex and fruity.

Blends: When coffee beans from multiple locations are roasted and mixed together, this is known as a coffee blend. It is not uncommon to find coffee blends including beans separate places. Just because it consists of multiple locations, doesn't decrease its quality - we make our blends with all of our specialty coffees from our single origin beans. If you are someone who is looking for consistency in flavor profile, consider trying a coffee blend. While single origin coffees aim to celebrate the seasonality in coffee across crop seasons, our blends are designed to have consistent flavor profiles year after year. We use fresh, seasonal coffees in our blends to create flavor profiles that appeal to different groups of coffee drinkers.

House Blend

A great daily drinker that we use in our coffee shops, this blend is made up of equal parts Costa Rica Montañas del Diamante and Guatemala San Miguel. The Montañas brings a honey nut sweetness and light acidity that is perfectly balanced by the deep chocolate undertones from the San Miguel. Montañas and San Miguel were two of our first relationship coffees, so we thought we'd bring it back home by blending these two together to create our House Blend.

Kent Club Blend

This Ferris classic was originally roasted for the local country club. It was so popular that we decided to make it available to all our customers and it has since become an all time favorite. This blend of Central and South American coffees yields a nutty, chocolate flavor with a balanced acidity and a round body.

1924 Espresso

An ode to our birth year, this is our house espresso blend we use in our coffee shops. This well balanced blend combines bright acidity and nuttiness from Brazilian beans and chocolate forward notes from seasonally rotating coffees. The light roast profile preserves more sweetness than a darker alternative, as there are more sugars left to caramelize when pulling a shot. Its complexity is preserved when combined with milk, which makes a wonderful latte or cappuccino.

Brazil Santos

This coffee is a light roast that yields a low acidic mouthfeel and a smooth bodied brew. Nutty and sweet flavors are carried over into the beans through a natural process, which allows the coffee beans to dry while still inside the fruit. The country of Brazil is the highest yielding coffee producer in the world but don't let that fool you, Santos is one of South America's premium coffees.

Brazil Primavera

Brazil Primavera is bursting with sweet citrus tasting notes. The Primavera farm has been widely recognized as one of the most sustainable coffee farms in Brazil for their continuous efforts toward reforestation, water reutilization, and natural composting. The outcome of their efforts is a beautiful coffee that can be enjoyed by a longtime coffee lover or someone who is just dipping their toes into the world of coffee for the first time.

Peru Café Femenino

For over a decade, we have had the privilege to support the nonprofit Café Feminino by purchasing their Peru Fair Trade coffee. Café Feminino’s mission is to enhance the lives of women and families in the coffee-producing communities throughout the world. The Peru chapter leads and supports several initiatives that support the livelihoods of women with over 800 participating women. Feel good while drinking this coffee with a raisin, nutty flavor that leaves a great punch of citrus.

Burundi Kinyovu

Our Women Certified Burundi Kinyovu comes from a co-op and washing station that's part owned and operated by local women. This means that all compensation they earn goes directly to the women workers, who in turn use the money to invest in their family’s needs. The co-op is directly affiliated with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) whose mission is “to support and encourage the participation of women in all aspects of the coffee industry.”

Rwanda Huye Mountain

This coffee comes to us from the Huye district of Rwanda. David Rubanzangabo founded Huye Mountain washing station in 2011 with the vision to “be a leading player and preferred choice for customer satisfaction in the international premium coffee market.” The mineral rich soil and high elevation paired with the farms top notch processing, have made this coffee a real stunner. With every step they take, their coffee becomes more and more recognized throughout the world.

Bridge St. Blend

While we will always stay true to our roots, we are also people who embrace change. Bridge Street Revival is a constantly evolving blend of fresh crop coffees that we roast to the same general flavor profile—creamy, nutty, and berry-forward. We adjust the blend frequently in order to keep this coffee the best version of itself!

Guatemala San Miguel

This coffee is milled at the San Miguel Mill which resides at the foot of a volcano called Fuego near Antigua, Guatemala. It comes from a single farm called Montecristo in the San Marcos growing region. This coffee has gentle apple-like acidity, with subtle notes of hazelnut. We’ve worked with our partners at San Miguel for 4 years now and plan to continue to purchase their coffee for many years to come.

Guatemala San Sebastian

The Falla family of the San Sebastian farm in Antigua are known for their extreme attention to detail. Their coffees are evidence of that care, and we are proud to represent their family here at Ferris with this coffee. Utilizing the slo-dry process draws out the sweetness and body in the coffee while also extending its green life. As a bourbon varietal from Guatemala, you’ll also find a gentle malic acidity, like in a red apple. This coffee carries a great chocolate character along with a heavy body with lingering sweetness.

West Coast Blend

A crowd favorite, this blend consists of 70% Brazil Cerrado and 30% Costa Rica Montañas del Diamante. This coffee has notes of roasted nuts and chocolate with a heavy body. The idea behind this blend was to provide a coffee that can appeal to many different palates. Notes of chocolate and nut are some of the most common taste descriptors for coffee, so we wanted to make sure those were well represented, while also having some mild acidity to keep the coffee interesting.

Looking for something similar?Try Brazil Primavera

Previously the Official Coffee of ArtPrize Nine, Brazil Primavera is bursting with sweet citrus tasting notes. The Primavera farm has been widely recognized as one of the most sustainable coffee farms in Brazil for their continuous efforts toward reforestation, water reutilization, and natural composting. The outcome of their efforts is a beautiful coffee that can be enjoyed by a longtime coffee lover or someone who is just dipping their toes into the world of coffee for the first time.

Westside Blend

Grand Rapids, Michigan has a lot of historical significance for Ferris — we have lived on the West Side of the city for almost a century. This hometown hero offers beans from Central America, Indonesia, and Africa roasted to give a balanced acidity and a nutty, chocolate flavor, with berry undertones. It’s a comforting blend that tastes like home.

Looking for something similar?Try Guatemala San Sebastian

The Falla family of the San Sebastian farm in Antigua are known for their extreme attention to detail. Their coffees are evidence of that care, and we are proud to represent their family here at Ferris with this coffee. Utilizing the Slodry process draws out the sweetness and body in the coffee while also extending its green life. As a bourbon varietal from Guatemala, you’ll also find a gentle malic acidity, like in a red apple. This coffee carries a great chocolate character along with a heavy body with lingering sweetness.

Sumatra Red Badger

The badger: a tenacious, clever, little rascal that makes the perfect mascot for this unexpected combination of rich chocolate and earthy flavors married with notes of cherry. This coffee offers a syrupy body and a mild, tart acidity that will keep you on your toes.

Looking for something similar?Try Guatemala San Miguel

This coffee is milled at the San Miguel Mill which resides at the foot of a volcano called Fuego near Antigua, Guatemala. It comes from a single farm called Montecristo in the San Marcos growing region. This coffee has gentle apple-like acidity, with subtle notes of hazelnut. We’ve worked with our partners at San Miguel for 4 years now and plan to continue to purchase their coffee for many years to come.

Organic Nicaragua

This certified organic coffee comes from the San Antonio co-op in Jinotega, Nicaragua. This coffee comes from 41 different producers with farms between 950 and 1150 meters above sea level. Coffee varieties include caturra, pacamara, and catuai. This is one of our darker roasts, with notes of toasted almond, dark chocolate, and caramel.

Looking for something similar?Try Sumatra Red Badger

The badger: a tenacious, clever, little rascal that makes the perfect mascot for this unexpected combination of rich chocolate and earthy flavors married with notes of cherry. This coffee offers a syrupy body and a mild, tart acidity that will keep you on your toes.

Colombia French Roast

For those who like it dark, this French Roast offers a chewy body, accented by rich flavor notes of dark chocolate caramels, oak cask, and a mild, tropical acidity.

Looking for something similar?Try 1924 Espresso Blend

An ode to our birth year, this is our house espresso blend we use in our coffee shops. This well balanced blend combines bright acidity and nuttiness from Brazilian beans and chocolate forward notes from seasonally rotating coffees. The light roast profile preserves more sweetness than a darker alternative, as there are more sugars left to caramelize when pulling a shot. Its complexity is preserved when combined with milk, which makes a wonderful latte or cappuccino.

At Ferris Coffee, we are continuously striving to improve our coffee quality and purchasing practices. Traditionally, we’ve purchased many common coffees with the intention of keeping them available year-round. The primary reason for this practice was to inject stability into our catalog, however there was one significant drawback. Namely, the vast majority of coffees cannot remain at their best for an entire year which resulted in some loss in quality as we came to the last portion of large lots.

We’ve implemented a new purchasing strategy that will allow us to both ensure all of our coffees remain fresh and to bring in a wider variety of options for you to choose from. This is also a step toward our ultimate goal of purchasing on a 100% direct-trade model. This practice is targeted at our single origin options, our blends will remain available all year round. We hope this is a useful tool for you as you make your coffee purchasing decisions. We’re excited to be able to offer all of these great coffees at their peak and offer some delicious new choices as well.

Check out the video below to see how our VP of Coffee Operations explains the process of cupping.Learn more about how we choose the specialty coffees we source and get a glimpse at what being a Q-grader is all about.